Waikawa Beach rain. @JeremyWxBaker

Waikawa Beach rain. Outside view of trees through a rainy window.

The crew. 🐦

6 Godwits walking in a line on wet sand in front of the waves.
6 Kuaka | Godwits in a line on the wet sand in front of the waves.
The setting sun like a spotlight highlights a portion of brown hill amist darker greens of paddocks and trees in shade.
The sunset spotlight.

RNZ broadcasts first Concert for Animals on Guy Fawkes Night | RNZ News: 🐶

In a radio first, RNZ and the SPCA are hosting a special Guy Fawkes Concert for Animals, with music specially selected to calm your pets.

RNZ Concert content director Liisa McMillan said it recognised Guy Fawkes could be a stressful time for animals and their humans.

"We're excited to offer some special radio programming that we hope will provide distraction and enjoyment for both," McMillan said.

And, BTW, Claude saved me some hair tearing.

Q: I'm using the hex colour below as the background for a web page. I want the colour to be paler. Give me 5 options, in hex, for a paler yellow. The hex colour I'm using is: #FEDC91

Answer: Here are 5 progressively paler yellow hex colors …

I agreed to update a friend's (a former client) web page — a simple task. But I'd forgotten about the power of MS Word users to cause utter confusion! So glad I don't do that work any more.

And the page update? It used to be 5 lightning fast HTML & CSS pages; now it's a single page, ditto.

This is our resident blackbird who spends much of the day sitting on our deck railing, singing to me (and the world). 🐦

Blackbird on a railing.

I think I'm done with this series: The Bea Abbot Agency Mysteries Books 11–15 by Veronica Heley. 📚

Book 12 in particular was a bit silly and repetitive. The others lacked the occasional writing sparkle that previous books had.

The stories have grown stale.

Book cover: Bea Abbot books 11-15.

Well, that was fun: the Barbie movie.

Barbie 2023 poster.

0850 and I'm as ready as I can be for an all-day power cut.

Notice of Power cut all day 23-Oct-2024.

With power off we can't get water pumped from the rainwater tank so the toilet and handbasins won't work. Nor can I boil the kettle for a cup of tea, and the Internet will go off. The Yeti can run the WiFi modem, but won't support a kettle.

Devices are charged. Thermoses are full of boiling water and I've brought a bottle of emergency water into the house for handwashing (and filled the sink).

Oh, and the car's out of the garage so I can go out later. Manually opening the garage door is a huge pain …

Let the power cut begin!

Hooray, it's an excellent show: Jason Kottke:

Ooh, a preview clip from season three of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I like this crew. Season three premieres sometime in 2025 and, huzzah!, has been renewed for a 4th season.

I always love to see a Spoonbill, and the Pied Stilt is a bonus. 🐦

Spoonbill and pied stilt wading in shallow water at the beach.

On my way to Palmerston North to collect Deb from the airport. Eggs on toast with tomatoes for lunch at Levin Mall. Inexpensive but delicious. Noisy though!

A plate of toast topped with sunny-side-up eggs and garnished with microgreens is served alongside sliced tomatoes, with a laptop in the background.

Kingfisher on a flax spear by the lake. 🐦

Blue and cream bird on a flax spear.

I get the feeling I'm in trouble … 🐦

Weiweia | Dabchick floating on a lake and glaring at me.
Weiweia | Dabchick floating on a lake and glaring at me.

Unsuccessful comet hunting, but it was alright down at the beach after sunset.

Dark below, then pink wet sand, then an island beside a startling bluish sea, with scarlet above, then cloud, then blue sky.

Spotted a pair of ducks with at least half a dozen tiny ducklings on the lake. Unfortunately, by the time I'd stopped my bike and extracted my camera they had disappeared without trace.

I waited a while, but with no luck.

I was absolutely delighted when I arrived home from 10 days away to find this postcard from @Odd in my letterbox. I must say, Hell doesn't look like too bad a place. 😁

Postcard with photos of small buildings in a town called Hell.
Back of the postcard with good wishes from Odd.

Luckily I live in a place with very few residents and I have an unusual name. The postie knows me and where I live.

We flew over a wind farm just before landing at Palmerston North.

Wind farm amongst green paddocks as seen from a plane.

When nouns verb and verbs noun

Headline that mentions documents accelerating.

New research documents accelerating plant growth

At first I wondered how research documents can accelerate anything. Then I twigged …